"Amherst Dislodged" (SLAMCD 263). Bar-code 50 28386 02632 7

Tim Crowther guitar, guitar synth. Steve Franklin keyboards, TonyMarsh drums.

1 Yearn 2:52
2 Four Life Skills Missing 2:49
3 Amherst Dislodged 14:57
4 Jezebels 4:13
5 Discomfort Zone 9:08
6 Rankles 3:44
7 Detection Evaded 12:14
8 The Desert Nuts 12:06
9 May Be Illegal in Your Locality 4:06

Recorded at Amherst Lodge, Roehampton, London, engineered by Tim Crowther. Recording and mixing completed in January 2005"

Tim Crowther (guitar/guitar synth), Steve Franklin (keyboards) and Tony Marsh (drums) have been playing together since 1998, brought together by a shared passion for hard electric jazz-rock and free improvisation. Their intention is to create new electric improvised music that excites and engages the listener and that comes from somewhere other than the obviously recognizable and comforting. The music is not intended to convey meaning but simply to express aliveness and possibility. It comes not from pre-planning or the concepts of any individual band member, but rather from a collective free-fall, with abandon. Amherst Dislodged is their second CD and demonstrates a sure development of the music.

Tim Crowther has recorded with ex-King Crimson violinist David Cross on two CDs of improvised music with Geoff Serle's band, Radius. Together with drummer Steve Clarke he formed the jazz-rock group Network and with him co-wrote the CD Corroded Path, released in the USA and Canada. His improvising group Conglomerate included trumpeter Ted Emmett and keyboard player Steve Franklin and released two CDs, the second of which featured Hugh Hopper on bass. He also gigged with another Soft Machine player, saxophonist Lynn Dobson, in an improvising trio with Dreamtime drummer Jim Lebaigue. With the improvising band Organon - Elton Dean, Jim Dvorak, John Edwards and Jim Lebaigue - he recorded Klusterbuckstuckle, released on the SLAM label in 2004..

RADIUS - Sightseeing - Ear-Rational 1989 - ECD 1017

CONGLOMERATE - The Bible Says - Impetus 1990 - IMP CD 18921

RADIUS - Elevation - Ear-Rational 1992 - ECD 1036

NETWORK - Corroded Path - Progressive International 1993 - PRO 018

CONGLOMERATE - Precisely the opposite of what we now know to be true - Dissenter/Progressive International 1995 - PRO 034

GROON - Refusal to Comply - Dissenter/Progressive International 1994 - PRO 050

MARSH / FRANKLIN / CROWTHER - Shell of Certainty - Visionlogic 1998

ORGANON - Klusterbuckstuckle - SLAM 2004 - SLAMCD 256 - 2004

Steve Franklin has toured and recorded with many bands including guitarist Phil Miller's In Cahoots with Elton Dean (sax) and Pip Pyle (drums); a quartet led by the ex-Soft Machine guitarist John Etheridge; the Brit-Magyar Quintet; the Simon Picard Quartet and an improvising quartet with George Haslam (sax), Paul Rutherford (trombone) and Marcio Mattos (bass). His debut recording was of his own compositions with his first band, Steps, and he has subsequently led several bands including Momentum and the Steve Franklin Group, featuring such musicians as Mick Hutton (bass), John Paracelli (guitar) and Ray Warleigh (sax).

STEPS - Steps - EMI Pathe-Marconi 1978

MACONDO - Leverkusen Jazz Festival Anthology - 1985

IN CAHOOTS - Split Seconds - Reckless 1988

IN CAHOOTS - Live in Europe - Mantra 1990

HASLAM - Level Two - Slam 1988

CONGLOMERATE - The Bible Says - Impetus 1990 - IMP CD 18921

CONGLOMERATE - Precisely the opposite of what we now know to be true - Progressive International 1995 - PRO 034

THE JOHN ETHERIDGE QUARTET - Ash - The Jazz Label 1993 - TJL103CD

Tony Marsh first came to prominence in the 70s with jazz-rock group Major Surgery - developing its compositions from group improvisations, it became a major innovator in this area of jazz. He has toured with Mike Osborne, John Surman, Evan Parker, Paul Rutherford, Barry Guy, Howard Riley, Elton Dean, Yves Robert and Didier Levallet. A trio with Simon Picard and Paul Rogers grew into the Mingus inspired band 7RPM. Tony joined the Mike Westbrook Brass Band in 1982, recording On Duke's Birthday and combining with Le Sinfonietta de Picardie in 1988 to record London Bridge is Broken Down. A long association with Harry Beckett has produced several records and a trio CD with Didier Levallet. He also plays in the improvising quartet Full Monte, with Chris Biscoe, Brian Godding and Marcio Mattos, with whom he has toured extensively and recorded. He has recently been gigging and recording with bassist Nick Stephens and saxophonist Frode Gerstadt.

MAJOR SURGERY - The First Cut - Next Records

DIDIER LEVALLET - Quiet Days - Evidence

MIKE WESTBROOK - On Duke’s Birthday - Hat Art

RILEY-CASTRONARI-MARSH - Feathers - Spotlite

MIKE WESTBROOK - London Bridge is Broken Down - Virgin Venture

HARRY BECKETT - Four for One - Spotlite

HASLAM - Level Two - Slam 1988

FULL MONTE - Life in the Grand Hotel - Walking Wig

BECKETT-LEVALLET-MARSH - Images of Clarity - Evidence

PICARD-ROGERS-MARSH - News from the North - Intakt 1993 - Intakt CD 028

FULL MONTE - Spark in the Dark - Slam 1994 - Slam CD 209

DOWNTOWN MUSIC GALLERY

NEWSLETTER - September 30th, 2005

CROWTHER/FRANKLIN/MARSH - Amherst Dislodged (Slam 263/UK) Featuring Tim Crowther on guitar %26amp; guitar synth, Steve Franklin on keyboards and Tony Marsh on drums. I don't know any of these British players very well, although Crowther recently appeared on disc with Elton Dean called Organon and Tony Marsh has been on 5 CDs with Paul Dunmall and two with Howard Riley. This is a completely improvised date and sounds pretty great. Tim plays a Klein guitar and a guitar synth. Guitar synths often get a bad rap, especially since John Abercrombie and Pat Metheny used them, rarely in a way that made them distinctive or interesting. Steve also plays a Prophet 5 synth as well as organ. Both of these players use their instruments in mostly creative way, although some of the note-bending has a way of making things feel off-balance. I am reminded at times of some of the freer areas from the fusion era of the 70's, there is some very focused improv that sounds partially pre-planned. There are some pretty inspired and crazed moments throughout this long disc. Although it is difficult to tell who is playing which synth. Opened minded fusion-fans should dig this. - BLG

Il genere fusion ha lasciato delle opere di alto livello. Poi, con l´avvento dello smooth jazz, è diventato tutto più appetibile per il grosso pubblico e meno interessante per chi vuole ascoltare più dei soliti tre accordi messi in fila.

Tim Crowther alla chitarra elettrica, Steve Franklin alle tastiere e Tony Marsh alla batteria ridanno dignità al jazz rock lanciandosi in improvvisazioni strepitose e cariche di forza vitale, dettate solo dall´empatia che si è creata fra loro in studio. Si tratta di musica totalmente improvvisata, senza temi accattivanti, fatta all´istante da tre che hanno capito come usare i loro tre strumenti.

L´intero album è ben elaborato, con un paio di brani che si dilungano oltre i dieci minuti di durata conducendo l´ascoltatore all´interno di un tunnel in cui non ci sono uscite laterali. Le scariche di adrenalina della chitarra e delle tastiere non lasciano respiro mentre la batteria martella di ritmi le spesse atmosfere create dagli strumenti elettrici. "Amherst Dislodged", che dà il titolo all´album, è un brano visionario, in cui il vuoto non ha spazio e che illustra la logica del viaggio così come l´intendeva il Dean di Sulla Strada: andare, non importa dove, ma andare.

I tre si conoscono a memoria - è il loro secondo album insieme - e il loro viaggio è di quelli che va seguito con attenzione. Usciti dalla fitta nebbia di note nel tunnel da loro percorso non si hanno riserve a ripercorrerlo: si sa già che si è in buona compagnia. Cosimo Parisi Musicboom.

"Amherst Dislodged" (SLAMCD 263).

This should appeal to free jazzers, nujazzers and jazz rockers in
equal measure. Pitched stylistically somewhere between Tony Williams
Lifetime and Last Exit, this is exciting, visceral music. Four long
tracks and five shorter pieces rip and roar across the landscape like
lumbering behemoths. The title track flays out its 15 minutes as if
each sinew has to be torn from the bone, as synth sounds growl and
splutter over Marsh's marauding drumming. There will be no prisoners
left alive. Marsh is simply one of our best drummers, like a cross
between John Marshall and Jon Christensen, and Crowther and Franklin
are inspired here. The range of sounds and rhythms on a track such as
"Discomfort Zone" are at times powerfully orchestral and at others
spare and abstract. This is amazing stuff at best, scary and angry
but with a ghastly beauty as well.

Duncan Heining
Jazzwise , June 2006